Roughly half of all adults in the United States have
had their personal information stollen within the
last 12 months…that’s about 110 million Americans.
The bad news is…hacking is never going to go away…
But the good news is…there are ways to protect yourself.
News 8’s Brittany Schmidt joins us now to explain…
Mike,
Every year, more and more big business fall victim
to scammers looking for money, personal information
or access to a major company, for example Target.
phishing emails.
Here are a few steps you can take to protect yourself…
Phishing emails have grown in popularity over the
years
I would say if you didn’t have any URL filters, you
would get one everyday.
Phishing emails are fake emails…hoping to catch
someone off guard.
They can look exactly like an email from someone you
know, their name, their address, everything would
be like you would think it to be.
The email usually contains a link…
The hacker may use threatening language to trick people
into clicking on the link…which would allow them
access to a company, personal information or money.
That’s how they dig into a network and get further
into it.
Phishing emails
Phishing itself is really hard to stop.
There are ways to protect yourself.
First–look at the name of the person who sent you
the email
If it’s a friend fo yours it will have tom@gmail.com
maybe tom puts t-o-m, and you see t-0-m…so you want
to make sure it comes from someone you have seen before.
Another thing to look out for is the URL, if you get
an email with a suspicious link do not automatically
click on it, slowly put your mouse over it so that
another link pops up.
If that link matches the original link in the email,
that’ a good sign, if if’s different, that should
draw up a red flag.
Third- check for grammar mistakes
A lot of times, because they come from overseas, there
are always mispelled words.
Finally, if it asks for personal information, for
example social security or account numbers
None of the people you deal with and pay money to
ask for your credentials over email.
Hackers are constantly looking for new ways to steal
information from people…
but Fisher says awareness is key to fighting back.
If you get emails that are too good to be true, they
probably are.
IN LAX, BS, N8
Because hackers usually target work computers or email
accounts, businesses are making internet security
a top priority.
Hundreds of corporations across the United States
have hired outside companies to help train their employees
to spot ‘phishing’ emails.
Thanks Brittany,
phishing email
We have a link for
that on our website…on News-8-thousand-dot-com